Push and pull: JI’s Swabi chapter turns down alliance with PTI on NA-13

Claims it will not support PTI’s candidate until the district’s Zakat chairman post is handed over.

SWABI: The Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Swabi chapter on Tuesday refused to enter an alliance with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on NA-13 Swabi-II until a consensus was achieved regarding the district’s Zakat chairman position.

In a press release issued by JI’s Swabi district chief Saeedzada Yousafzai, the party maintained no alliance was possible on the said seat until the dispute was resolved.



Yousafzai added the JI would join hands with the PTI for the good of the nation. He maintained, however, that unlike the party’s alliance with the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, they would not let their leaders and workers make sacrifices in the process.

Yousafzai said the JI was working with the PTI in order to eliminate corruption, restore peace and overcome power shortages, “But we will not tolerate being sidelined by the PTI,” read the statement. It further claimed not selecting a JI member for the Zakat chairman seat in Swabi would be unjust for residents of the district.

“It is the due right of the JI in Swabi,” claimed Yousafzai in the release. “No alliance is possible without this and a JI candidate is fully prepared to contest on the NA-13 seat.”

Yousafzai explained the two parties had agreed to an alliance during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. JI senior leader Sirajul Haq, Qaumi Watan Party Provincial President Sikandar Hayat Sherpao and Awami Jamhori Ittehad Pakistan chairman Shahram Khan were also present at this meeting.



However, when the Zakat chairman post was given to local PTI leader Amjad Ali Shah Bacha, JI leaders in Swabi claimed they would support the former on the NA-13 seat only if the latter’s party member was appointed to the position instead.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2013.